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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · field · march · cell · drill · bowl

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. march — the month
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cell — in biology
  6. drill — the tool
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. march — the month
  11. wind — moving air
  12. drill — a practice
  13. field — for sport
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. drill — army training
  16. march — music
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. cell — in a prison

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com